mark 6: The Shepherd King

this sermon was preached At twynholm: audio is available here:


What kind of leadership are you looking for?
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Said the British politician, lord Acton.
We tend to see that don’t we?
From the despots of this world in Stalin, Hitler, Mugabe, Hussein, down to the boss who gets a kick out of putting his or her staff down, we see leadership that is self-serving, and harms those whom it leads. It is not so much a leadership of the people for their sake, but a leadership, where those under leadership are seen to exist for the sake of the leader.
That is the best reason for democracy: the foundation of democracy is not that people are so good, and their opinions so wonderful that everyone should get their say.
No, the foundation of democracy is that people are so bad that nobody should have too much power. The rulers should be answerable to their electorate.
But can leadership with authority ever be a good thing?
Should we fully democratize every authority in this world; should parents no longer require obedience from their young children, but only give advice? Should schoolteachers suggest that homework is handed in on time rather than insist? Are marriages automatically degrading and sexist if the husband is understood to lead, and the wife to follow?
But can leadership with authority ever be a good thing?
It can. In fact, though we are supposed to be wary of leaders and the authority that they wield, we are not to see leadership itself as being something irrecoverably bad.
In fact, when a baby is born into the world, such as Leigh and Emma’s new little one, he is supposed to experience in his parents’ authority and love. Love and authority are supposed to go together. We are never to have authority over anyone and not see a responsibility to love that person.
In fact, the very idea that authority CAN be abused, also suggests that authority can also be RIGHTLY used.
And the bible would agree with that. All authority is given by God; and he is to be our model of how to lead. He leads for the good of those he leads.
In fact, a suspicion of His authority was the very first step that the serpent took in tempting Eve to fall. He questions God’s authority, “did God really say?”
And then he questions his motives. “He only says that because he wants to spoil your fun and keep you under the thumb. He doesn’t love you. He is only using you. Take, eat, it is better to cast of the yoke of obedience, and grasp the fruit of independence.”
In a fallen world we should not be naïve about the authority wielded by fallen human beings. But neither should we be cynical. We should not rejoice with the press when one in a high position is brought low by the uncovering of some dirt on them. We should merely mourn that they did not use that authority for good; we should take care, lest we abuse any authority that the Lord has given us.
But what about Jesus authority?
We have seen incredible authority in the first 5 chapters of Mark’s gospel.
Jesus has a unique authority over temptation, people, evil, sickness, forgiveness, even over god’s law, over God’s kingdom, and as we saw in chapter 5, even over the forces of nature, even over death itself. There is nothing that doesn’t come under that authority.
We keep on reading of people’s responses to that authority as being amazed, perplexed, fearful, terrified. Is this authority just a show of brute force exercised only to intimidate us, that we would cower before him? Do Jesus exercise his authority in such a way that will mistreat us and leave us in despair. Is Jesus authority exercised for the good of those who come under it, or for their harm?
Let’s turn to mark Chapter 6, where we continue to see jesus wielding authority: and we must bow: but he does so not to rob us, but to provide fully for all those who would trust his rule.

We will see three things about authority in this passage.
1) The urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word (1-13)
a. Jesus is the prophet like Moses
b. Jesus brings urgency like the Exodus
2) The powerlessness of misused authority (14-29)
3) The sufficiency of Jesus’ royal provision(30-56)
a. Food
b. Himself
c. Rest

1) The urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word (1-13)

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
1(A) He went away from there and came to(B) his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2And(C) on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and(D) many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3(E) Is not this(F) the carpenter, the son of Mary and(G) brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And(H) they took offense at him. 4And Jesus said to them, (I) "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household." 5And(J) he could do no mighty work there, except that(K) he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And(L) he marveled because of their unbelief.


a. Jesus is the prophet like Moses

Throughout the whole chapter we are going to see some parallels with the most significant event in the history of Israel: the Exodus. Much of Israelites life was built around understanding the fact that God had redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt, and brought them out into the wilderness, where he fed them bread from heaven and gave them his law, and eventually brought them into Canaan, the promised land. So significant is it that 5 books of the bible are dedicated to recounting those events: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua, and then the rest of the Old Testament keeps looking back to it.

Well, God performed all of those events, right up to the bringing Israel to the very edge of the promised land under the leadership of Moses the prophet.

However, the people didn’t always appreciate Moses leadership muh. In fact, he was a stutterer and the youngest of 3 siblings.

On at least one occasion, even Moses own brother Aaron and his sister Miriam turned against him. In Numbers 12 they say, And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses?(A) Has he not spoken through us also?" And(B) the LORD heard it.

There’s nothing special about Moses, they said. But there was. God had spoken face to face with Moses in a way he did not even with the other prophets of the Old Testament.

Until Jesus came. And then there was a prophet whose authority made even Moses look like a messenger boy. We’ve seen how unique is authority is.
Perhaps you are surprised that Jesus describes himself as a prophet. Perhaps you believe that Jesus is a merely human prophet.

Well yes, Jesus is fully human and he is a prophet, that is someone who speaks God’s words.

Is Jesus’ humanity a stumbling block to you.

Yet it was those who were most familiar with Jesus real and full humanity that the hardest time recognising his real and divine authority.

3(E) Is not this(F) the carpenter, the son of Mary and(G) brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And(H) they took offense at him. (or, as it is rather loosely, but appropriately rendered in the Message paraphrase “hey tripped over what little they knew about him and fell”

You can hear them, can’t you. “I Remember him in nappies” they say. I used to babysit for him. Weren’t his brothers a handful. And we never were really sure about who Jesus father was – she wasn’t even married to joseph before they left town with her heavily pregnant. No, I don’t get it, but Jesus, surely he can’t have become anything special.”

Perhaps if you are a child growing up in a Christian family you might be in particular danger to be so familiar with Jesus that you don’t realise how incredible he is. He’s just like a family friend. Perhaps you have a favorite uncle or aunt. You have a lot of affection for them; perhaps you just have a lot of affection for Jesus, but you’ve never really realized that his words must be obeyed. You’ve seen the pictures of him in bible story books, and he looks pretty harmless.

He is fully human. He was a baby no larger than one born this week. But he is also fully God. He needs to be both if he is able to be the great prophet who speaks fully with God’s authority, but speaks as one who is alongside us and not against us.

Will we stumble, or will we obey?

I wonder if we live in a whole country where many of the people brought up have about enough familiarity with Jesus to breed contempt. People still want to be married in church, or have their kids attend church school, but they will not have a Jesus who is a prophet declaring God’s will for their lives and demanding obedience.

But we need to realise that there is an unseen urgency to our need to obey Jesus. For just like Moses before the exodus, there is a great event that is coming.


a. Jesus brings urgency like the Exodus

And he went about among the villages teaching.
7(N) And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.[a] 10And he said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and(S) proclaimed(T) that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and(V) anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
The way in which Jesus sends out the twelve is again reminiscent of the Exodus. On the night when the Passover lamb was slaughtered they were to eat it “with(I) your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste.” (J)


So it was with the coming of Jesus. He offers a freedom from the slavery to sin, and a future of eternity praising him.


So, as the apostles went out calling people to repentance, they were saying that that message of repentance was as urgent as the night when the passover took place. On that night, if people were not prepared the angel of death would not have passed over: he would have visited that house and there would have been death. But if they were prepared, the angel of death would pass over and there would have been a new life free from slavery, headed towards the promised land. If a town would not hear the call to repent, dust would be shaken off the apostles feet as testimony against them. Though that town was part of the old covenant promised land, the apostes would be saying, “You are like Eygpt, the land of slavery., we are leaving you behind to your destruction.”

This isn’t to be the model we adopt for short term missions: it is the model that Jesus apostles had for their unique ministry of calling Israel to repentance. We don’t have to shake the dust off our feet when we leave fulham, though we might sometimes need to come to the conclusion that we have shared the gospel enough times for now with a certain individual, who has understood it but rejected it.

Also, in our ministry, we shouldn’t expect the level of miracles that we see in the apostles’ ministry, any more than we should expect the parting of the Thames when we touch it with our staff. This was the unique beginning period to salvation history. The Lord still performs miracles, but they are the welcomed exception rather than the expected norm.

But the message is the same:

Notice what the call is here. They call the people to believe. Sometime (like Mark 1:15) the call is to repent and believe. Sometimes it is just faith. But here it is just to repent.

How can that be: it is because it is impossible to have one without the other.
Saving faith is not mere belief, it is trust: and trust involves repentance: a trust that Jesus is worth obeying more than the idols we’ve been living for.

GOSPEL.

And if one has repented: turned away from your rebellion – well you can’t do that unless you have turned to Jesus. Repentance and faith are opposite sides of the same coin.

Let me put this another way. It is not possible to have Jesus as your savior but not as your Lord. And if Jesus is your Lord, he most certainly is your Savior.

Let me press this home a little further. You cannot have Jesus as the one who has saved you, if you will not have him on the throne of your life.

He calls us urgently to repent.

You might have thought that if following Jesus was so costly that we are to turn away from everything that we have ever lived for, then we could take as long as we like to decide. Costly decisions are usually made slowly. But not the Passover. The angel of death was coming that night. They must be ready to leave their homes today.
So with following Jesus. We do not know how long we have. We must trust today.

Jesus is not the sort of leader that we find in British politics. He isn’t happy to have our vote even if he doesn’t have our allegiance. He is a leader who demands full obedience.

Perhaps you are already a believer, but there is something in your life that you know displeases the Lord. You fully intent to repent of it at some point in the future. My friend, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. He is worth following in this. Don’t delay, for there will never be an easier time to repent than today. The grip of sin grows ever stronger.

Recognise the urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word.

2) The powerlessness of misused authority (14-29)

Right in the middle of the passage that is talking about how Jesus is a leader of cosmic proportions, we encounter another leader. A leader desperate to cling onto his own crown and use it for his own ends.

14(W) King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’[b] name had become known. Some[c] said,(X) "John the Baptist[d] has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." 15(Y) But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is(Z) a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." 17(AA) For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and(AB) bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. 18(AC) For John had been saying to Herod,(AD) "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife." 19And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20for Herod(AE) feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he(AF) heard him gladly.
21But an opportunity came when Herod(AG) on his birthday(AH) gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." 23And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you,(AI) up to half of my kingdom." 24And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s[e] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his(AJ) disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Herod is like the archetypal pagan king. In the Exodus story, he would be most like Pharoah.
20for Herod(AE) feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he(AF) heard him gladly.

Like Pharoah’s wavering over Moses’ demands to let God’s people go, Herod too wavered at another prophet, john the Baptist. He likes to listen, but is also perplexed and hates what he says.

Look at how authority and influence is used. He thinks he is using it to his own ends.
- Someone says something he doesn’t like, so he imprisons him.
- He feels like he is totally in control: he can listen when he likes and yet still have God’s word under lock and key.
- He is so brash about displaying his rule and riches that he makes a promise equal to the great king Xerxes made to Ester, to give up to half his kingdom.
He is proud.

Pride is such a deceptive sin. For pride is about taking confidence in who we are. Pride is about boasting in ourselves; that we have it all under control.

But actually pride has control of us.
• Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:1-3 (in Context) Proverbs 11 (Whole Chapter)
• Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.

If we are going to receive the blessings that come through repentance, the Lord will need to humble us.

James 4:1-10
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?(D) Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit(E) that he has made to dwell in us"? 6But(F) he gives more grace. Therefore it says,(G) "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7Submit yourselves therefore to God.(H) Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8(I) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.(J) Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and(K) purify your hearts,(L) you double-minded. 9(M) Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10(N) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Pride seeks to silence the word of God. Herod had imprisoned the spokesman of God, and eventually severed the head that spoke God’s word.
Pride is the great friend of every sin. When you are struggling with temptation it is pride that will cut you off from either hearing or obeying God’s word.

Sin by its very nature is promises to bless the one who commits it, but only has the power to destroy him.

And if the man’s destructive temptation was pride, the woman’s was manipulation.

See how craftily she manipulates her husband to do what she wants. It is the most common response to other’s authority after the fall. We recognize the authority, but make it pretty clear that it will be a miserable authority to hold if it is not used in the way we want.

My friends: let this not be a church where we communicate by manipulation – the holding out or holding back of peace depending on whether we get our own way. Let this not be a church that shelters pride: the one who sees themselves above the correction of another.

Let us be those who speak the truth in love to one another. We are not to manipulatively hint, or proudly ignore. We are to encourage one another by the plain speaking of the word of God.
Who knows you well enough in that church to be one of the several people in your life doing that. If you don’t have anyone like that, come and talk to me, or one of the elders, and we will probably know of others who would love to meet with you, read the bible, pray and lovingly hold one another accountable.

Husbands and wives: let us declare war on pride and manipulation within our marriages. A war that will be fought entirely upon our knees: on our knees to pray for the Lord’s work changing us, and on our knees to confess to one another and ask one another’s forgiveness for our many failures in these areas.

How do you use the authority you have?

Parents: have your children seen enough self-sacrifice from you to know that you are exercising that authority for them, and for the Lord, not for yourself. When we need to have difficult conversations with our children are we

Where do you have authority: at work? In the family? Even as a consumer: Do you use it for yourself? Or are you a servant leader, for the glory of the Lord?

We have all failed in our exercise of authority. And for that we need forgiveness. The forgives that the one perfect king lone can give us. And he gives abundantly in every way.

3) The sufficiency of Jesus’ royal provision(30-56)
30(AK) (AL) The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and(AM) they had no leisure even to eat. 32(AN) And they went away in(AO) the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and(AP) recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When he went ashore he(AQ) saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36(AR) Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37But he answered them, (AS) "You give them something to eat." And(AT) they said to him,(AU) "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[f] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" 38And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said,(AV) "Five, and two fish." 39Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41And taking the five loaves and the two fish he(AW) looked up to heaven and(AX) said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42And they all ate and were satisfied. 43And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Again, we have a repeat of Exodus themes here. Three times Mark points out that this feeding took place in a wilderness, just like where God fed the Israelites miraculously with another bread: the bread of manna.

So here, Jesus is no longer functioning like Moses in the Exodus story: he is the Lord himself. The great provider God.

He provides the leadership they need.

34When he went ashore he(AQ) saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

This is the leader we were made for. And his leadership, though exercise with absolute power is entirely benevolent. His leadership is compassionate.

If you are not a Christian here, you are extremely welcome to be here. I wonder if you think that if you were to submit to Jesus’ authority it would be the end of all your joy. I shall not lie to you, in many ways life is easier as a non-Christian. But it is certainly not more joyful. You were not created to be a law unto yourself, You were created to enjoy being under god’s rule.

Augustine prayed
'You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you'
Is your heart restless: in how many different pursuits has it sought rest and joy. It will find it only in casting aside its crown and bowing before Jesus.

For when he rules, he provides all that we need to live under his rule.

a. Food

Notice how the disciples doubt his ability to provide, and think that everyone will have to provide for themselves.

"This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36(AR) Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

And so, after he has miraculously fed the crowd stretched like a vast army before him. There is also enough to feed the disciples: a whole basketful each!

I wonder if you doubt Jesus’ provision for you. He never promises to give us all we want. He never promises to give us all we think that we need. But he does promise to give us all he knows we need: and he knows far better than us.

He is the Lord

Hindsight is 20/20… will you trust him for tomorrow?

And how do we know? Because in the end we need him, and him alone: and he gives us himself.

b. Himself

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." 51And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

One of the most beautiful accounts in the Exodus story is in view here.

Whilst Moses was up the mountain receiving the Law, his brother was down belong leading the people to break the whole law in one act of idolatry: worshipping a golden calf.

Ex 33:17And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do,(AC) for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." 18Moses said, "Please(AD) show me your glory." 19And he said,(AE) "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And(AF) I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for(AG) man shall not see me and live." 21And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a(AH) cleft of the rock, and I will(AI) cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall(AJ) not be seen."
Again, like Moses, Jesus separates from the people and goes onto the mountain. But Jesus doesn’t just encounter the Lord himself. He is the Lord whom the disciples encounter on the boat.

Just as the Lord passed Moses by, so Jesus was about to pass them by (48): but they were terrified.
They were not hidden in the left in the rock. They were exposed upon the open sea. Can they see the Lord and live?

What does Jesus say to them…

"Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."

Or, more literally: take heart: I AM. Do not be afraid. Jesus pronounces the divine name “I AM”.

And yet they do not die as they see the Lord: for he says do not be afraid. In jesus we have one who is fully God, and yet as he has become man, they could see him and live.
As John puts it in his gospel.


14And(Z) the Word(AA) became flesh and(AB) dwelt among us,(AC) and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of(AD) grace and(AE) truth.

We, like the disciples are so slow. They didn’t understand about the loaves. The did not understand that the one who rained manna down from heaven, the one who parted the Red Sea but left no footprints in the waves, the one who brought salvation to Israel, the one who created the world, the one for whom we were made, is the one who had fed them, who had walked with them, who had sent them out with his authority, who was protecting them, who would die for them, who would appear to them. He was everything they needed to face every fear. He was everything they needed to be freed from every slavery to every sin. He was everything they needed to receive full forgiveness.

All but one of them would know that one day. They would go to their death, counting even their physical lives worth nothing compared to the surpassing Greatness of knowing Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Do you know that peace: that rest of no longer having to long for things that you might not have, because you know that if you have Christ, he is of infinitely greater value that anything you lack?

He is the great shepherd. And if the Lord is my shepherd, I will lack nothing.

The chapter started in Jesus hometown, where he would do little healing: not because he was physically incable, but because the people there remained still restless – they hadn’t found their rest in him.

But the chapter ends, with a picture of a new promised land, in Gennesaret, outside Israel, where there was an abundance of prosperity.


a. Rest
53(BK) When they had crossed over, they came to land at(BL) Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately(BM) recognized him 55and ran about the whole region and began to bring(BN) the sick people(BO) on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside,(BP) they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even(BQ) the fringe of his garment. And(BR) as many as touched it were made well.

Jesus ultimately will provide a perfect rest.

It is not like the rest given to Israel, confined to one piece of realestate in the middle east. It will fill a new heavens and a new earth.
Are you striving to find rest you can cling onto in this world, or are you clinging onto Jesus, knowing that in him alone will you find your rest?

Let’s pray.